1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to invalid lift apparatus for installation adjacent a door opening adjoining a loading floor.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Invalids and handicapped persons using wheelchairs are unable to negotiate steps without difficulty and risk. This is particularly true for wheelchair passengers who must be transported in van or bus type vehicles having a loading floor reached by means of steps adjacent a side door opening.
Various types of invalid lift mechanisms have been advanced or made available which are adapted to be mounted in the vehicle door opening to raise and lower a platform carrying the wheel chair passenger. Some are not even lift mechanisms but are motorized ramps which normally block the door opening and drop down to bridge over the usual steps. Any of such mechanisms that block the loading door, whether true lift mechanisms or not, make the associated vehicle a limited purpose vehicle because the blocked door limits access to the vehicle for ambulatory passengers. In addition, many of these lift mechanisms penetrate too deeply into the interior area of the vehicle and result in cramped and poorly arranged seating for non-wheelchair passengers.
Probably the greatest single problem with prior art lift mechanisms is that they are relatively costly and complex and often require extensive and expensive modification of the vehicle, so much so that the limited financial resources of municipalities, school districts, rest and convalescent homes, charitable organizations and the like discourage more widespread use of such mechanisms.